Robert Griffin III was visibly injured in yesterday’s 24-14 playoff loss to Seahawks before his right knee finally gave out midway through the fourth quarter.This morning, Redskins coach Mike Shanahan is taking heavy criticism for pushing his franchise quarterback — a 22-year-old star with one ACL injury in his past already — beyond the breaking point.

If ever a veteran coach needed to accept responsibility for the reins of a player, it was Shanahan over Griffin in this game. Yet he simply passed the buck to his player. Griffin said he could play, was in pain but wasn’t injured and had earned the right to be the quarterback — all the sideline buzzwords to keep yourself in the game. And Shanahan listened and bought it. Soon, we’ll find out the price.

He had Mike Shanahan, who looked at this mess, looked at each hapless Redskins drive, looked at every painful RG3 step, looked at every awkward, overthrown pass, and instead bought Griffin’s weak arguments and then closed his eyes and lied to himself that it would all turn out OK.

Griffin was so obviously not himself, and so tentative moving around, and the Redskins and their medical staff should have seen this. Griffin clearly has a they’ll-have-to-drag-me-off-the-field mentality and needs to be protected from himself. Shanahan should know this. I believe he should have pulled Griffin out of the game before the half, for good.

If Griffin was too competitive, too stubborn to pull himself out of the game Sunday because his effectiveness was reduced, then it was incumbent on coach Mike Shanahan to make the call. But the veteran coach couldn’t do it on Sunday. He rolled with the will to win and the trust that a 22-year-old can make the best call in the heat of the moment.

Mike Freeman of CBS Sports:

RG3 on his way to hospital for MRI on his knee. Hope Shanahan is driving him and apologizing.